A week after a group of people hacked a CPI(M) member to death in Mahe, the police recorded the arrest of three people.
Palloor police in Mahe arrested Jerin Suresh, Nijesh and Sharath - all RSS members - for allegedly hacking Babu to death on the night of May 7.
Babu, who was a CPI (M) counsellor, was serving as a local committee member in Palloor.
Police had taken at least 13 people into custody over the past week and recorded the arrest of the three accused on Monday. According to reports, the accused were produced in court and have been sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
Twin murder
Babu's murder last week had created widespread political tension in Mahe and Kannur district, with the CPI(M) calling for a hartal in protest. After the attack, the party was quick to accuse the BJP of being behind the crime.
In a horrific turn of events, an hour after Babu was hacked to death, an RSS member Shamej was hacked just 1.5 kilometers from where Babu was attacked. Shamej succumbed to his injuries at a hospital.
After the twin political murders, political tension rose in the region. CPI(M) workers took to the streets after Babu’s body was cremated and set a few shops on fire. A police vehicle also came under attack and was burned down.
A few days ago, Babu's daughter wrote a letter to BJP national executive member PK Krishnadas, asking why his partymen had killed her father.
12-year-old Anamika wrote in her letter: “That memento has no smell of my father. Instead it has the smell of blood, a smell that I have never experienced.”
While her father had gone out to buy school uniform for her younger brother, he had come back wrapped in a red cloth, Babu's daughter wrote.